Justin Upton follows through on a swing against the Diamondbacks. / Norm Hall, Getty Images

by USA TODAY Sports, USA TODAY

by USA TODAY Sports, USA TODAY

PHOENIX -- Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers said last week he had no regrets about the deal that sent outfielder Justin Upton to the Atlanta Braves, but Upton continued to do his best to change Towers' mind.

Many more games and months and years need to pass before judgment can be rendered on the deal, but Monday night Upton presented more pieces of evidence in his favor, this time doing it in person.

In his first game back at Chase Field since the January trade, Upton went off, collecting four hits, including a monster home run to center field, leading the Braves a 10-1 win over the Diamondbacks, who lost for the third time in as many days.

Upton did his best before and after the game to downplay the significance of the night. But everything he did during the game fit perfectly in the description provided by teammate Chris Johnson.

"Tonight," Johnson said, "was the Justin Show."

The reaction from the crowd was predictably mixed, with probably more cheers than boos, though perhaps there was more volume coming from the boo-birds.

"It was mixed, and that's what I expected," Upton said. "It is what it is. I had fun with it."

Braves center fielder B.J. Upton figured his younger brother heard the boos, and he figured that despite everything Justin said there was probably a little extra motivation or significance to the performance.

"I think 97 percent of him was (treating it like just another game)," B.J. Upton said. "But I've known him all of my life and in the back of his head - and not throwing any stones at (the Diamondbacks) - but he did spend pretty much all of his career here. I mean, I think as a human being, that's kind of your natural instinct. He never brought it up to me, but I know it was in the back of his head."

In the first inning, Justin Upton hit a bouncer to third, where Martin Prado, the main player the Diamondbacks received in the trade, fielded it and threw him out. It was the only out he would make.

After he singled over shortstop in the fourth, Upton came to the plate with his brother on first and nobody out in the sixth. Diamondbacks lefty Wade Miley missed with two fastballs and then tried to throw a change-up for a strike. But Miley left it up and Upton crushed it, launching it past the overhang in right-center field, his major-league-leading 13th.

"I got into a hitter's count and got a ball up in the zone," Upton said. "I was trying to stay in the middle of the field with it and I barreled it up."

Upton sat at a podium before the game, telling a large pack of reporters that his return to Arizona wasn't such a big deal, saying he already was looking forward to a time when everyone else would feel the same.

But with more games like this, his visits to Arizona will always be events.